The Vice President's Task Force, which was announced in President Obama's 2016 State of the Union address, has consistently avoided dealing with issues related to drug prices. In a June 30, 2016 interview with Tom Brokaw, Vice President Joe Biden asserted that he did not understand why drug prices are high.

"What the hell happened, what happened?" Vice President Biden asked, citing the price increase of Gleevec over the course of its years on the market.

The report does mention seven "policy issues that were beyond the scope of the BRP but will need to be addressed for many of the recommendations to move forward," including: